Tag: washington

TSA officers, air traffic controllers and other federal workers who have been showing up for work at airports aren’t getting paychecks. Enter Seattle Tacoma International Airport, where donations of non-perishable food and gifts cards are being collected and distributed daily. Separately, Seattle-based Washington Federal is offering interest-free, 90-day loans, with no loan fees or application fees, to some federal workers waiting for paychecks in eight western states. At Orlando International A

As the partial government shutdown slogs on, the Transportation Security Administration says an increasing number of its officers—who aren’t being paid during the furlough – are facing financial difficulties, with some not showing up for work.

TSA officers, air traffic controllers and other federal workers who have been showing up for work at airports aren’t getting paychecks. Yet across the country, they are getting lots of love, food and offers of assistance from a range of service providers and the general public.

At least so far, passengers aren’t feeling the strain. The agency says security checkpoint wait times at most of the nation’s largest airports remain within TSA’s normal wait times of 30 minutes for standard lanes and 10 minutes for TSA Precheck lanes. The time passengers had to wait to pass through the checkpoints at Atlanta, Denver, Newark, Seattle and other airports exceeded those times on Friday.

Meanwhile, TSA staffers working without pay are struggling, which is prompting people around the country to rally behind them. At Bellingham International Airport in Washington, about 20 miles from the Canadian border, budget airline Allegiant Air provided pizza for TSA workers on Thursday.

In Las Vegas, Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak visited with TSA workers at McCarran International Airport to express his appreciation for their service and commitment to the airport and to the community. He, too, came with hot pizzas in tow.

The offers of free food are coming on the heels of last week’s gesture of goodwill from Canadian air traffic controllers, who sent more than 300 pizzas to their counterparts in more than 40 airports in the United States. Air traffic controllers in the Canadian city of Edmonton got the (dough) ball rolling.

Of course, TSA and FAA employees working without paychecks can’t live by pizza alone. Enter Seattle Tacoma International Airport, where donations of non-perishable food and gifts cards are being collected and distributed daily.

Separately, Seattle-based Washington Federal is offering interest-free, 90-day loans, with no loan fees or application fees, to some federal workers waiting for paychecks in eight western states.

“We are proud to step in and help our hard-working neighbors get through this uncertain time and support their financial needs,” said Washington Federal president and CEO Brent J. Beardall in a statement, “We hope other financial institutions will do the same.”

And in San Jose, California, the City Council this week endorsed Mayor Sam Liccardo’s proposal to set up a no-interest short-term loan program for many of the 500 federal employees who have been working at Mineta San Jose International Airport without pay.

The program, which may be funded through airport revenues and administered in partnership with one or more financial institutions, proposes loans equal to monthly take-home pay for FAA air traffic controllers, TSA workers and officers working for Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

“We are going to do everything in our power to keep political dysfunction in Washington from creating service disruptions or safety issues here in San Jose,” said Liccardo. Citing the local airport’s integral role in the local economy, Liccardo added that the incentives were needed to “help keep these essential workers on the job.”

With no end in sight to the stalemate, airports around the country continue to gather and distribute donations for federal employees affected by the partial government shutdown.

At Orlando International Airport, there has been overwhelming response to a donation drive headed up by the Airline Management Council. On Thursday, the airline tweeted a short video of a room with tables piled high with everything from donated diapers to toilet paper and canned goods.

As the shutdown continues, airlines, airport concessionaires and other groups are stepping up with donations, discounts and support. This week, the main airports of both Albuquerque and St. Louis offered up free food and goodies to beleaguered TSA workers.

Feds reportedly have discussed imposing record fine against Facebook2 Hours AgoCNBC’s Julia Boorstin reports on news that the Feds are reportedly looking into imposing record fines against social media giant Facebook. The Washington Post is reporting that U.S. regulators are considering the fines for some of Facebook’s privacy violations.

CNBC’s Julia Boorstin reports on news that the Feds are reportedly looking into imposing record fines against social media giant Facebook. The Washington Post is reporting that U.S. regulators are considering the fines for some of Facebook’s privacy violations.

When Gruden was fired from his position in 2010, McVay scored an interview with then-Washington Redskins’ head coach Mike Shanahan. “In the first month or so, I thought he was a little savant boy or genius boy,” former Washington tight end Chris Cooley said of McVay. McVay spent three years coaching Washington’s offense before he stepped into his current role as head coach of the Los Angeles Rams in 2017. At the time, he just was just 30 years old, more than three decades younger than the league

“He understood the whole offense and he was a great leader,” said Montgomery.

But McVay’s dad, Tim, tells The Washington Post that his son was not always clear on whether or not he actually wanted to coach. “He was like any college kid, wondering, ‘What the heck am I going to do when I get out of college?'”

After graduating in 2008, McVay connected with long-time family friend Jon Gruden, at the time the coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He offered McVay an entry-level job with the team as a gopher.

“How many kids are able to get hired right in the NFL right out of college?” Tim said. “Not many. All of a sudden, boom, he’s right in, working as an assistant to Jon. He embraced it.”

When Gruden was fired from his position in 2010, McVay scored an interview with then-Washington Redskins’ head coach Mike Shanahan. Shanahan was looking for an assistant tight end coach, and tells The Washington Post that immediately after his interview with McVay he knew he was right for the job.

He says McVay worked hard to understand the game even better, “quizzing other coaches about blitzes, protection schemes and secondary alignments.”

“He’d ask questions at a young age that most people wouldn’t ask,” Shanahan said. “He wanted to know the whys behind everything.”

That same year, Washington’s tight end coach Jon Embree left his position, and Shanahan promoted McVay, who was just shy of his 25th birthday, to the role.

“In the first month or so, I thought he was a little savant boy or genius boy,” former Washington tight end Chris Cooley said of McVay. But after working with the young coach for a few months, Cooley says he quickly learned that “he’s an outlier in the football community.”

McVay spent three years coaching Washington’s offense before he stepped into his current role as head coach of the Los Angeles Rams in 2017. At the time, he just was just 30 years old, more than three decades younger than the league’s oldest head coach, Pete Carroll, who once worked with McVay’s grandfather.

In his short time as head coach, McVay has turned the once 4 -12 Rams into a winning team that’s just one game shy of going to the Super Bowl.

Though his age may be a surprise to many, McVay’s players say it’s his no non-sense approach that makes their team work so well.

“He [knows] when to be about business,” cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman tells ESPN, “and he [knows] when it’s time to play.”

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Seven months after the first U.S.-North Korea meeting, Pyongyang has done little to eliminate its nuclear arsenal — a scenario that political watchers don’t see changing even after a second or third summit. North Korea’s top envoy, Kim Yong Chol, in currently in Washington D.C. to discuss the prospective of a second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that could take place as early as March or April, according to reports. The prospect of more face-to-fa

Seven months after the first U.S.-North Korea meeting, Pyongyang has done little to eliminate its nuclear arsenal — a scenario that political watchers don’t see changing even after a second or third summit.

North Korea’s top envoy, Kim Yong Chol, in currently in Washington D.C. to discuss the prospective of a second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that could take place as early as March or April, according to reports.

The prospect of more face-to-face talks is undoubtedly a positive development — regular dialogue helps contain conflict on the Korean Peninsula — but it isn’t expected to push the North on denuclearization, according to experts. Rather, Trump and Kim may simply be looking to keep communication lines open and avoid the heated saber-rattling that defined their relationship in 2017.

A North Korean envoy arrived in Washington on Thursday for expected talks with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a possible encounter with President Donald Trump aimed at laying the groundwork for a second U.S.-North Korea summit. The North Korean visit could yield an announcement of plans for another summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Pompeo had planned to meet his North Korean counterpart to discuss a second summit last November, but the

A North Korean envoy arrived in Washington on Thursday for expected talks with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a possible encounter with President Donald Trump aimed at laying the groundwork for a second U.S.-North Korea summit.

The envoy arrived on the same day Trump unveiled a revamped U.S. missile defense strategy that singled out North Korea as an ongoing and “extraordinary threat,” seven months after he declared after his first summit with leader Kim Jong Un that the North Korean threat had been eliminated.

Kim Yong Chol, Pyongyang’s lead negotiator in denuclearization talks with the United States, was due to meet Pompeo and could also go to the White House on Friday, a person familiar with the plan said, a sign of potential movement in a diplomatic effort that has appeared stalled for months.

The North Korean visit could yield an announcement of plans for another summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

There has been no indication, however, of any narrowing of differences over U.S. demands that North Korea abandon a nuclear weapons program that threatens the United States or Pyongyang’s demand for a lifting of punishing sanctions.

Kim Yong Chol, a hardline former spy chief, arrived in Washington on a commercial flight from Beijing, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported. Yonhap and other South Korean media said he was greeted at Dulles airport by Stephen Biegun, the U.S. special representative for North Korea.

Pompeo had planned to meet his North Korean counterpart to discuss a second summit last November, but the meeting was postponed at the last moment.

Diplomatic contact was resumed after Kim Jong Un delivered a New Year speech in which he said he was willing to meet Trump “at any time,” South Korea’s ambassador to the United States, Cho Yoon-je, told reporters last week.

Kim Yong Chol was last in Washington in June, when he delivered a letter from Kim Jong Un to Trump that opened the way for the June 12 summit in Singapore.

That meeting yielded a pledge from the latter to work towards denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and Trump declared the next day that there was “no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea.”

There has been little obvious progress since, however, which was underlined by the Missile Defense Review unveiled on Thursday.

Introducing the report, acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan noted that North Korean missiles remained a “significant concern.” Trump himself only mentioned North Korea in passing at the same event, saying negotiations he had conducted should have been done years ago.

The “multiplier effect” of the ongoing government shutdown is not to be discounted, CNBC’s Jim Cramer argued Thursday as stocks rose on reports that U.S.-China trade tensions could ease amid negotiations. “Get used to those words, because I think they’re the new normal this earnings season,” Cramer said. “‘No significant slowdown’ pretty much implies that business did peak, that orders have fallen off, but it’s not because business organically got worse.” “At this point, I think the president sh

The “multiplier effect” of the ongoing government shutdown is not to be discounted, CNBC’s Jim Cramer argued Thursday as stocks rose on reports that U.S.-China trade tensions could ease amid negotiations.

With 800,000 federal workers missing their paychecks, “you’ve got an uninsured hurricane going on and we don’t know when it will end or how much damage it will do,” Cramer said. “The insanity of the shutdown just cannot be grasped.”

The implications of hundreds of thousands of people falling off the spending grid could soon extend to travel, leisure and retail, as well as the utility space as bills go unpaid, the longtime market-watcher said on “Mad Money.”

And even though company executives are increasingly saying that they have seen “no significant slowdown” in their businesses as a result of the shutdown or the late-2018 market weakness, there’s more to those words than meets the eye, he said.

“Get used to those words, because I think they’re the new normal this earnings season,” Cramer said. “‘No significant slowdown’ pretty much implies that business did peak, that orders have fallen off, but it’s not because business organically got worse.”

Instead, it’s because of the fear that rippled through the market after the Federal Reserve signaled in October that it would put through multiple interest rate hikes in 2019, he said. But now that Fed Chair Jerome Powell has pledged to be patient, the shutdown has taken center stage — and soon, the resulting slowdown could indeed become “significant.”

“How can you protect yourself from these cautionary words? […] I think you have to trim your positions in stocks that are related to the consumer and move that money into stocks that are levered to secular growth trends — trends that won’t let up even if there’s a significant slowdown in the economy caused by the government shutdown,” Cramer advised.

The “Mad Money” host also warned that any forecast cuts or inherent weakness during earnings season could seriously damage the stock market’s “midsection,” especially after its lift off the December lows.

“You can’t game the irrational here, and Washington has thrown us two irrational curveballs in a row: an insanely overzealous Fed chief who was willing to strangle the life out of the economy in order to stop even the barest hint of inflation, and elected officials who are willing to sacrifice the whole economy over a few billion dollars for a mostly symbolic wall,” he said.

“At this point, I think the president should just call for donations from rich people who want the wall and let the government reopen already,” Cramer concluded. “Whether you love the idea or you hate it, we’ll all be better off when this shutdown ends.”

For investors who have been jockeying for the right way to play the U.S.-China trade deal, here’s your game plan if the light at the end of the tunnel gets here. A resolution on trade between the world’s two biggest economies could be a big catalyst for a relief rally in the stock market. Washington and Beijing reached a 90-day truce last month to halt any new levies as they seek to work up a long-term deal through negotiations. There has been mixed feedback on the trade talks — Sen. Chuck Grass

For investors who have been jockeying for the right way to play the U.S.-China trade deal, here’s your game plan if the light at the end of the tunnel gets here.

A resolution on trade between the world’s two biggest economies could be a big catalyst for a relief rally in the stock market. BlackRock Chairman and CEO Larry Fink said Wednesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that there would be “a surge in investment sentiment” if both sides call off tariffs on each other’s goods.

Washington and Beijing reached a 90-day truce last month to halt any new levies as they seek to work up a long-term deal through negotiations. There has been mixed feedback on the trade talks — Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said recently that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer saw no progress on key issues, while President Donald Trump tweeted about “big progress” with China. In the latest development, China’s vice premier, Liu He, has accepted an invitation to Washington this month for trade talks.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said Tuesday that she will run for president in the 2020 campaign. “I’m going to run for president of the United States because as a young mom, I’m going to fight for other people’s kids as hard as I would fight for my own,” she said. Gillibrand had told New Yorkers during her last campaign that if she won re-election she would not run for president in 2020. Her voting record has been one of the most anti-Trump in the Senate, according to analysis from The Washin

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said Tuesday that she will run for president in the 2020 campaign.

Gillbrand, 52, said on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” that she is launching an exploratory committee.

“I’m going to run for president of the United States because as a young mom, I’m going to fight for other people’s kids as hard as I would fight for my own,” she said.

Gillibrand had told New Yorkers during her last campaign that if she won re-election she would not run for president in 2020.

Even so, recent actions hinted at her larger plans.

The senator spent so little during the midterms that she was left with a $10.7 million war chest, The New York Times recently reported.

She’s also veered to the left in the past two years, latching onto national causes that energize the Democratic base and mobilize voters.

New York’s junior senator was appointed in 2009 to fill the seat vacated by Hillary Clinton, who was named secretary of state.

She found a niche supporting women’s rights early on, making sexual assault in the military and on college campuses a signature issue.

But after Trump’s surprise victory in 2016, she staked an even bigger claim to matters that fire up the base. She gave a rousing speech at the Women’s March in Washington a day after the inauguration.

Months later, she jumped on the nascent #MeToo movement and was the first to urge Sen. Al Franken to step down after sexual misconduct allegations.

She even called on Trump to resign when allegations against him resurfaced. The move prompted a nasty response from the president who called her a “lightweight” and a “total flunky for Chuck Schumer” who would do “anything” for a campaign contribution.

Her voting record has been one of the most anti-Trump in the Senate, according to analysis from The Washington Post.

“She’s done an excellent job carving out a message and space for herself among the potential candidates,” said political consultant and venture capitalist Bradley Tusk, who has advised former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

It may not be enough to catapult her to the top of what’s expected to be a crowded Democratic field. In a recent MoveOn.org straw poll, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas, former Vice President Joe Biden, and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont led the field. Gillibrand didn’t even make the top 10. Among female potential candidates, Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts have grabbed most of the attention.

Another potential stumbling block: Gillibrand hasn’t always been a liberal firebrand. Earlier in her career, as a congresswoman from upstate New York, she was pro-gun and anti-immigrant.

Some say her move to the left was politically calculated to curry favor with downstate voters.

“She’s very good at reading the media, reading the donors, reading the voters and pivoting to wherever she needs to be,” said Tusk, who notes that her decision is no surprise. “Running for higher office is what good politicians do,” he said.

Despite U.S. President Donald Trump launching a high-stakes trade war against Beijing last year, China on Monday announced that its 2018 trade surplus with Washington was its largest in more than a decade. China’s surplus with the U.S. grew 17 percent from a year ago to hit $323.32 billion in 2018, according to government data. Exports to the U.S. rose 11.3 percent on-year in 2018, while imports from the U.S. to China rose a meager 0.7 percent over the same period. China’s overall trade surplus

Despite U.S. President Donald Trump launching a high-stakes trade war against Beijing last year, China on Monday announced that its 2018 trade surplus with Washington was its largest in more than a decade.

China’s surplus with the U.S. grew 17 percent from a year ago to hit $323.32 billion in 2018, according to government data. It was the highest on record dating back to 2006, according to Reuters.

Exports to the U.S. rose 11.3 percent on-year in 2018, while imports from the U.S. to China rose a meager 0.7 percent over the same period.

China’s overall trade surplus for 2018 was $351.76 billion, the government said. Exports in the whole of 2018 rose 9.9 percent from 2017 while imports grew 15.8 percent over the same period, official dollar-denominated data showed.

While the surplus with the U.S. may have risen, last year’s overall Chinese trade surplus was the lowest since 2013, even though export growth was the highest since 2011, according to Reuters’ records.

China’s General Administration of Customs said on Monday that the biggest worry in trade this year is external uncertainty and protectionism, forecasting the country’s trade growth may slow in 2019.

Asia’s largest economy is still growing steadily in 2019, but it faces external headwinds, said customs spokesman Li Kuiwen at a scheduled briefing, Reuters reported.

Economic data from China are being closely watched for signs of damage inflicted by the trade war between Washington and Beijing.

While official data indicated China’s economy held up for much of last year, it now appears to be slowing as production metrics and export orders fall as the country’s trade dispute with the U.S., its largest trading partner, drags on.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration deserves “no more than a C plus” for how it has addressed conflict in the Middle East, according to a former U.S. national security advisor. However, Jones ultimately expressed optimism that the United States will stay committed to the region. On one such issue — the planned U.S. troop withdrawal from Syria — Jones said the tensions that have arisen between Washington and Ankara should not be litigated in public, but rather by careful discussion betwe

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration deserves “no more than a C plus” for how it has addressed conflict in the Middle East, according to a former U.S. national security advisor.

James Jones — who served as NSA under former President Barack Obama and as supreme allied commander of NATO forces in Europe during George W. Bush’s presidency — said Monday that it isn’t clear exactly what the White House wants to do in the Middle East because of apparently “disparate” messages it has sent. However, Jones ultimately expressed optimism that the United States will stay committed to the region.

“I think generally — with regard to the main threats: with regard to Iran, with regard to ISIS, with regard to Russia — I would say, at this point, because there’s some confusion, I would say, no more than a C plus,” Jones told CNBC’s “Capital Connection” when asked what grade he would give to the administration’s handling of the various issues in the Middle East.

On one such issue — the planned U.S. troop withdrawal from Syria — Jones said the tensions that have arisen between Washington and Ankara should not be litigated in public, but rather by careful discussion between the two governments.

“You really have to have serious meetings at both capitals with the intent of fixing what right now is somewhat fractured,” he said.

That comment came after Trump threatened in a Sunday evening Twitter post to “devastate” Turkey’s economy if the NATO ally “hit” the Kurds.

As the U.S. prepares to withdraw from Syria, it’s set to leave behind an increasingly fraught situation between its Kurdish partners on the ground and its ally in Ankara. Turkey has said it is planning an offensive against the Kurds, but Washington has said it requires guarantees of safety for the Kurdish fighters that helped it against Islamic State, the extremist group also known as ISIS.